NEW YORK, NY.- Eli Wilner & Company is celebrating 40 years of framing. To mark the event, they are offering partial funding for frame replication and frame restoration. Museum curators and directors are encouraged to contact Wilner directly to submit their potential re-framing and frame restoration projects for consideration. Reflecting on the highlights of the last 40 years, Eli Wilner said "We are grateful to the numerous curators, directors, collectors, auction specialists and advisors who were instrumental in our success. We look forward to the next 40 years!"

One of Eli Wilner & Company’s most notable framing accomplishments was when they were commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to recreate a monumental frame for Emanuel Leutze’s "Washington Crossing the Delaware," 1851, based on re-discovered documentary photographs by Mathew Brady. The original frame in the Brady photographs had been inexplicably lost. Mr. Wilner speaks of the frame as “a tour de force, absolutely the most creative and involved surround for a painting that I have ever seen.” Not only does the frame have exterior dimensions of approximately 14 x 23 feet, it also features a fully hand-carved and gilded 14-foot wide crest, consisting of Revolutionary War symbols such as an eagle, flags, pikes, bayonets, a drum, and a munitions case. An undulating ribbon at the base of the crest reads, “First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen”, a line excerpted from Henry Lee’s eulogy for Washington in 1799. The Wilner staff spent years doing in-depth research alongside the Met’s curators, and meticulously handcrafting the frame. The frame has a wide cove profile with acanthus-leaf and leaf-and-berry cast ornaments. In addition to the crest, hand-carved elements include the embellished shields at the corners and individual stars set inside the cove. Using over 12,500 sheets of gold, the entire frame surface was water-gilded in the traditional fashion. The frame was so massive that it had to be designed for on-site assembly and was carried up the Museum’s Grand Stairwell in sections.

When President Clinton decided to hang Childe Hassam's "Avenue in the Rain" (1917) in the Oval Office, Eli Wilner replaced the painting's inappropriate reproduction frame by creating a carved and gilded replica of an original frame designed by the artist, including the artist's signature "H" monogram. The painting was also hung prominently in the Oval Office during the Obama and current Biden Administrations.

When Sotheby's received the consignment of an exceptionally important and large Picasso portrait, "Dora Maar au Chat" (1941), Eli Wilner was asked to create a frame worthy of the painting. Wilner created a shaped and gilded replica of a 17th century Dutch style period frame, with an ebonized finish and gilded ornament at the sight edge. The painting was sold for over $95,000,000, one of the highest prices ever paid for a Picasso at auction.

Eli Wilner & Company has completed over 10,000 framing projects for private collectors, museums, and institutions including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and 28 projects for The White House. In 2019, Wilner was honored by the Historic Charleston Foundation with the Samuel Gaillard Stoney Conservation Craftsmanship Award, for their work in historic picture frame conservation.